Often Irreverent, Mostly Rational Blog for Fans of the Toronto Blue Jays. One Day, We'll Be Perfect.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Rosterbatory ramblings: Bring on the hot stove!

(Recently, we've been apologizing left and right for our prolonged absences, so we won't even bother to bore you with the apologia for our neglect of you, our valued blog readers. Let's just get on with it, and pretend like daddy still lives at home, and doesn't have to drop you off at mom's at 7 PM on Sunday.)

When we last were around to jibber-jabber about the news of the day, it was all about our joy over seeing Los Gigantes tear up the postseason. And now that they have run the table, walked away with the big prize, it's time to start the rosterbation and start digging into the offseason.

YEAH! HOT STOVE! METAL HORNS!

(Truth be told, we probably glom onto the hot stove detritus and ramblings every year as a manner of maintaining some semblance of sanity whilst waiting for the next season to approach. It's a long cold winter, and given that our capacity to make it out to Fall and Winter League games isn't all that great, we'll have to make due with making up make-believe opening day rosters on spare scraps of paper to keep our baseball loving hearts warm and toasty.)

What will the Jays Offseason Look Like?There's some conventional wisdom that the Jays won't do much this offseason, and that with most of their lineup and rotation in place, the personnel moves will be minimal.

Of course, this all depends on your definition of "much" when it comes to the offseason. In previous years, the Jays were said to have done little (and criticized for it). And yet, they were bringing in the likes of Scott Downs (Lefty ganesh! Compensatory picks!), Marco Scutaro (Big year! Compensatory picks!) and John Buck (holy friggin' compensatory picks!).

Sure, in the short term, that's not going to stop a dumbass like James Deacon from complaining about the lack of major league signings (what...Kevin Millar's not enough for you?), but often times, it's the little moves that are most impactful in the end.

So what do we expect? A couple of smaller moves to fill out the bullpen and replace the departing late inning guys. (We're anticipating that Gregg, Frasor and Downs will all be gone, so your bullpen "ace" is now Shawn Camp. Enjoy.)

Also, we wouldn't be surprised to see one "big-ish" move, where Alex Anthopoulos brings in at bat or a mid-to-top-rotation guy at the expense of a prospect or two. (He's said as much. Sorta. We're probably reading in to that.)

Who's our off-season mancrush?Aubrey Huff. We can't remember the last time we were that excited to see a bunt. We're not even sure if we agreed with the strategy (we were exceedingly drunk and schmoozingly distracted in the moment that it occurred), but if Aubrey Huff can make us excited by small ball, then we want to see him mash it up as a Blue Jay.

This faithful reader will just give you a pass in the belief that you are operating under the Barry Bonds' theory that the longer you stay away, the more people will want you. Your situation will probably work out better than his is.

Seriously, do you think the Blue Jays will have to completely rebuild their bullpen? That's a bit scary, though, the comp picks are nice to pile up in a basket. Somebody has to finish the eighth and ninth, no?

Huff is going to re-sign with the Giants most likely. A bat would be nice, but if Hill and the DH (whose name escapes me) have a bounce back season, that's like signing two new bats.

I dunno Tao, the way AA has been making sure everyone knows he's going to be "aggressive" on the trade front has me believing he might already have something lined up, or at least storyboard-ed out.

Like a warning shot across the bow, or something.

I'm also not so down with your weird Huff-love. Though it wouldn't be the worst possible scenario, I'd rather the Jays pursued an already good/upside to be great dude (even if it costs an already-good arm) rather than committ a pile of dough over 3 years to your boy Aubrey.

If the Huff thing is just a hunch, then that's cool. I'm bad at debating hunches though.

Still - there must be plans to move a few of the "almost" starters into the pen, or pick some folks up. Tallet can't be holding down a position either, can he? There is no number of innings at which he is a viable option anymore.

I'm worried about Overbay coming back. I'm convinced, given the lack of interest for him at the trade deadline, that the FA market isn't going to be much better for him. I know overall, his numbers aren't that bad, but I'd really like to move on and use Lind there or bring someone in.

Frankly, if next year doesn't figure to be a contending season, it would be profitable for the team to pick up a few more cheap scouting pick-ups (Scutaro, Buck, Bautista...), put them in roster holes (1B, 3B - Bautista's RF arm is killer) and let 'em go for 2012 with more draft picks. Even if only to give our minor league depth at all positions more time to develop.